Aerial spraying for mosquitoes was done using a private company. The entire county was not sprayed. Certain areas were selected based on population concentration, mosquito breeding habitat, and known concentration of West Nile Virus cases. It is believed that the aerial application, along with other abatement measures will be sufficient to suppress the mosquito and West Nile Virus problem for 2006.

WHEN SPRAYING OCCURRED

Bingham County completed aerial spraying on Friday, August 1, 2006. Spraying began at approximately 7:00 p.m. and ended at approximately 10:45 p.m.

ABOUT THE CHEMICAL BEING USED

The chemical used was Dibrom Concentrate. Information can about Dibrom can be found by clicking this link. Dibrom appears on the Department of Agriculture's approved pesticide list and will be applied according to the product label as directed by state and federal law. It is widely used across the United States.

The Dibrom was sprayed in droplets measuring 30 microns in size. The amount used equates to approximately three quarters of an ounce of chemical per acre.

As prescribed, Dibrom is not harmful to humans, pets, birds, or fish. The chemical is fatal to flying insects it comes in contact with which are mosquito size or smaller. The chemical is not emitted in a high enough concentration to be considered harmful to larger insects. The chemical has a quick break down rate and will be broken down by microbes present on the ground within a very short period of time of reaching the ground.

We have been informed that this is the same chemical used by Disney every morning to spray for insects at Disney World..

WHO CONDUCTING THE SPRAYING

Aerial spraying was conducted through ADAPCO, which is headquartered in Sanford, Florida. The aerial application was done by Vector Disease Control, Inc. This is the same company which conducted spraying in Ada County and Canyon County.

The spraying company came highly recommended. It has been in business since 1992. They possessed all the required licenses and certifications to perform the type of aerial spraying . The company performs similar operations in at least 7 states each year. Following hurricane Katrina, the company sprayed approximately 2.5 million acres without incident. The most recent spraying by the company prior to coming to Idaho was in Sacramento, California.

HOW AERIAL SPRAYING WAS CONDUCTED

The application was done with two twin engine planes. The planes flew at approximately 300 feet off the ground at 150 miles per hour.

Each plane carries approximately 60-75 gallons of pesticide, which is capable of covering approximately 10,000 acres.

Bingham County provided the coordinates of the spray areas to the ADAPCO. The information was fed into a computer on the plane and the computer controlled the release of chemical through an interface with a Global Positioning System.

We are hoping for a 90% kill rate on adult mosquitoes within the spray zone